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Palladium

Element 46 · Transition metal

Specimen

Atomic number
46
Atomic mass
106.42
State at room temperature
Solid
Melting point
1,555 °C
Boiling point
2,963 °C
Density
12 g/cm³
Discovered
1803

Atomic mass from IUPAC.1 Other physical data from PubChem.2

Can I eat it?

In food and water
Not needed, little harm known. Palladium has no known function in the body. Rats absorb less than 0.5% of a dose of palladium chloride. ICH sets a limit of 100 micrograms a day by mouth for palladium in medicines. 34

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The atom

Pd
ShellElectrons
1 (K) 2
2 (L) 8
3 (M) 18
4 (N) outermost 18
Total46

Configuration [Kr] 4d¹⁰

4d ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓
A shell diagram: each ring is an electron shell and each dot is one electron. The nucleus holds 46 protons. The outermost shell is shown in red. Electrons do not travel on rings: they fill orbitals, regions where an electron is likely to be found. The boxes are those orbitals for the electrons outside the Kr core, with one arrow per electron.

Related elements

Group 10
Ni Nickel Pt Platinum Ds Darmstadtium

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Sources

  1. 1

    IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW), 2024. Abridged Standard Atomic Weights 2024 .

    The atomic mass shown for the 84 elements that have a standard atomic weight.

  2. 2

    National Center for Biotechnology Information (PubChem), 2026. Periodic Table of Elements .

    Electron configuration, melting and boiling points, density and discovery year for all 118 elements.

  3. 3

    Royal Society of Chemistry, 2026. Palladium - Element information, properties and uses .

    • Palladium has no known biological role. It is non-toxic.
  4. 4

    International Council for Harmonisation (ICH), 2022. ICH Q3D(R2) Guideline for Elemental Impurities .

    Limits (permitted daily exposures) for metal impurities in medicines. Used here for the platinum-group metals, which no food authority covers.

    • Pd(2+) chloride (PdCl2) was poorly absorbed from the digestive tract (<0.5% of the initial oral dose in adult rats ... 0.1 mg/d = 100 µg/day
  5. 5

    National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 2026. Atomic Weights and Isotopic Compositions for All Elements .

    Isotopic composition of each element; the most abundant isotope sets the neutron count in the nucleus view.